Reticles are provided in the observation beam path of optical observation and aiming devices, in particular aiming telescopes. The visible target marking applied to the carrier is referred to here as the line image. When hunting at dawn or dusk it is often impossible to recognize the line image against the dark body of game. Therefore, various solutions have been proposed for illuminating the line image. It is thus known to etch the line image into the carrier formed as a glass plate and fill it with pigments. Illumination with a light source causes it to stand out brightly from the background due to light scattering and light diffraction of the filing material. However, with the known reticle only a very small portion of light is deflected in the direction of the observer. According to EP 0 886 163 B1 the line image used is therefore a diffraction grating which is applied to the carrier. Here the fact is utilized that according to the theory of diffraction the first order has a particularly high light intensity. Thus, the brightness of the illuminated line image is improved somewhat, but light is not radiated uniformly, that is, brightness is dependent on viewing direction. Also, only a very small portion of the optical power produced is deflected in the viewing direction.
Further, it is known from DE 10 051 448 A1 to frame the carrier with a light guide which is illuminated by the light source. Since light is thus steered into an oversized solid angle, the energy consumption is considerable for sufficient brightness. According to DE 29 903 989 U1 a line image, namely a target marking in the center of the reticle, is projected into a further line image applied to the carrier in the form of cross-lines by a projection device disposed laterally on the reticle via a beam splitter in the observation beam path on the carrier. This obtains a bright line image, but the space requirements and weight are considerable. Moreover, light transmission is reduced by the splitter layer between the two prisms of the beam splitter. It is also difficult to adjust the two line images relative to each other. EP 0718 585 B1 discloses a reticle having, as a target marking, an illuminated ring with bars which are provided with a reflection surface at the tip to form illuminated dots.